The weekend matches kicked off from Etihad Stadium as Manchester City hosted Everton. The Toffees have surprisingly done well against their hosts as of late, winning five of six without suffering defeat. This set out to be a great contest that tested City's new strength.
Tim Howard had another fantastic game for Everton, consistently shutting down the opposition and the spine of the squad. He made a handful of saves and had to be on his toes for the full ninety. The American denied Sergio Aguero on several occasions, with the likes of David Silva and Samir Nasri continuously pressuring the defensive line. The two little maestros’ were pulling the strings and creating chance but that started to fade as time passed.
David Moyes had his squad organized well and the player responded positively on the field. They seemed to have the hosts rattled; effectively shutting down the space with Jack Rodwell tracking Silva and persistently pressuring the Spaniard's every move. Roberto Mancini decided to give Mario Balotelli a run and introduced him into the match just after the hour mark. Within ten minutes of the substitution, Roberto Mancini looked like the master tactician after Balotelli found the back of the net. The set-up was thanks to a decent run by Aguero that drew the defenders close, that allowed the Italian to find the space and one-time the ball past Howard. The ball took a generous deflection off Phil Jagielka that made it impossible to stop as it looked to be going wide otherwise. It was surprising to see Balotelli display some humility, running to hug his manager after scoring and expressing some gratitude.
The second goal for Manchester City came from another Mancini substitute, James Milner able to put the match out of reach ten minutes after being introduced. Everton did a good job defensively keeping City's superstars off the score sheet, but the depth on the bench finally overwhelmed the visitors. Mancini should take some credit for his timely substitutions which made immediate impacts after being introduced.
At Anfield, Kenny Dalglish was expecting a turnaround of form in the league after two consecutive losses on the road. Wolverhampton are struggling for form as well, failing to score in their last three matches and only earning a single point in that spell. The visitors came out victorious in the same fixture last season, but this is a much stronger Liverpool that was heavily favored to earn all three points.
The first half was dominated by the Reds with Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez combining to wreak havoc on the Wolves back four. The little Uruguayan was playing at a higher level than anyone else on the pitch. Andy Carroll had his best game of the season for Liverpool and both strikers caused problems for Mick McCarthy, the middle of the field was wide open and Wolves had trouble dealing with the pair. The one constant thing missing for Liverpool is that killer instinct needed to finish team’s off, dropping points as a result.
Another noticeable problem is the amount of fouls and yellow cards Liverpool accumulate in bad positions. Jamie Carragher is all heart but clearly has lost a step in his game and is exposed far too often. With Daniel Agger injured, Martin Skrtel has been relied upon heavily by Dalglish and has failed to impress. The Slovakian has been a major liability on defence. Much of the ball possession was controlled by Liverpool, and chances were created to surge ahead but most were squandered.
Wolves were a bit unlucky conceding the first goal, Charlie Adam unleashed a powerful low drive that looked to be going wide of the post, until Roger Johnson inadvertently dove and headed the ball past his keeper to give the home side the lead. The deflection sent the ball right into the low corner and Adam was not given credit for the goal. After that Suarez kicked into high gear, consistently pressuring his defenders to make mistakes. The second of the match came from his fine work rate and tricky feet, turning his defender and faking out Wayne Hennessey before placing the ball inside the near post. A remarkable finish, started from a great pass by Jose Enrique who had another strong performance at left-back.
Carroll had his best performance of the season, providing great movement with or without the ball. Supplying great distribution knocking down ball to his teammates and coming close to scoring on a couple of occasions, once even striking the bar . Despite having less of the possession Wolves were able to score right after the break, Steven Fletcher eluded his marker and smashed home the cut back pass from Stephen Hunt. Skrtel was to blame again, getting in the way of his keeper and losing Fletcher in the process.
The victory was less than convincing for Liverpool with a significant weakness being exposed defensively. Dalglish will be happy to earn maximum points but disappointed at his players for failing to close off the match early on. Wayne Hennessey had a lot to do with keeping Wolves in the match, making a half-dozen quality saves. Steven Gerrard made his first appearance of the season coming in with ten minutes to play to the delight of the home crowd. The return of the Scouse captain will be a huge lift for next week's Merseyside derby.
Coming off a big loss last weekend, Chelsea wanted to bounce back strong at home against Swansea City. Fernando Torres wanted to add to his recent scoring streak of one, and hoping to finish the match on a positive note after the open net miss heard around the world from a week ago. Torres started brilliantly displaying great control to chest the ball down fire the ball past Michel Vorm. It is the first time the Spaniard scored in consecutive games for Chelsea. Juan Mata showed his vision on the goal, picking out Torres' run with a perfectly weighted lob over the defenders.
The Blues doubled their lead soon after, Ramires finishing off a great ball by Ashley Cole for his first this season. Torres started the play that lead to the second goal and was looking stellar at that point. What quickly followed was a surprising sending off; the Blues striker was shown the straight red card for a horrible two-footed tackle on Mark Gower. Another fine performance overshadowed by a glaring mistake. The three match ban will definitely have an impact on his rediscovered good form.
The Swans tried to keep up but were outmatched despite having the man advantage, eventually conceding a third to Ramires. Allowing him to weave through the middle and finish calmly past Vorm on the breakaway. Ashley Williams broke the clean sheet for Petr Cech, heading in Swansea's only goal of the match despite their lengthy man advantage. Didier Drogba was introduced with ten minutes left to play, making his return after suffering a concussion from a vicious collision a month ago. The Ivorian showed the lay-off had not affected his goal-scoring prowess, notching Chelsea's fourth in injury time.
Controversy followed the final whistle, with news Frank Lampard had left the bench after Andre Villas-Boas made his final substitution of the match. The captain was not pleased with being an unused substitute and made it known to his manager, not the smartest decision by Lampard considering his poor form thus far.
Bolton made the trip to London, hoping to face an Arsenal side low on confidence after their humiliating defeat on the road last weekend. Owen Coyle was under some pressure after suffering five straight defeats following the win on opening day. Arsene Wenger was surely unimpressed with the first half performance from his players. They looked sluggish and created very few chances. The best opportunity of the half fell to David Wheater, his header from six yards was miraculously saved by Wojciech Szczesny, the keeper showed his tremendous instinct and reflexes to deny Bolton the lead.
The second half was completely different; the Gunners made an immediate impact and took the lead. Robin Van Persie was able to fight off his defender and beat Jussi Jaaskelainen near post. To make things worse for Coyle, his side went down a man after Wheater was shown the red for pulling down Theo Walcott. An easy decision by the official since Walcott would have been clear through alone on goal otherwise.
The Dutchman doubled the lead and earned his brace, re-directing Walcott's low cross past Jaaskelainen who was left stranded on his goal-line. By that point Arsenal were firing on all cylinders and started to look like the Gunners of old. Alex Song added the third off a nice low curl that tucked into the far corner. The victory pulled Arsenal out of the depths of relegation with next week's heated London derby in their rear view mirror.
Tottenham were coming into the match against Wigan Athletic with a tremendous amount of confidence following a huge moral boosting victory last week. Spurs picked up right where they left off and dominated ball possession for the entire first half. Maynor Figueroa gifted Spurs the lead with a horrible back pass that resulted in Emmanuel Adebayor setting up Rafael Van der Vaart for the early goal. Twenty minutes later Gareth Bale scored his first to double the lead; left unmarked on a corner kick the Welshman picked the opposite corner with a difficult header on the finish.
Harry Redknapp would have hoped to be ahead by much more than two goals going into the break. Mohamed Diame cut the lead early into the second half, holding off the defender before sending the ball into the net. The match was put out of reach unfortunately for Wigan soon after, Steve Gohouri was sent off for chopping down Bale recklessly. Spurs were able to hold out for the victory.
Blackburn came into the match off a positive result and had history on their side, having won the last five meetings at St. James Park. Newcastle United have started the season undefeated, Alan Pardew has managed to steer the Magpies to a surprising record despite all the critics on Tyneside.
Demba Ba announced himself to Geordie nation in tremendous fashion, out-muscling Scott Dann for his first, and followed it up three minutes later with an easy header from in close, the place erupted as Newcastle took a two goal lead on the half hour mark. David Hoilett silenced the home crowd soon after with a thunderous shot and get within one goal before the break. Alan Pardew would have been upset to concede at all after controlling the opening frame.
Steve Kean is not known to be the inspirational type but Rovers played far better to start the second half, Martin Olsson coming closest to equalize, smashing the shot off the crossbar. But the day belonged to Ba, the Senegalese striker recorded the hat-trick with a looping header that beat Paul Robinson to make it 3-1. The Magpies continued their surprising start to the season with another victory, condemning Rovers to the bottom three and Kean to another week of speculation involving his job.
Fulham have yet to record a victory this season under Martin Jol, while West Bromwich has endured their own rough start in their first full season under Roy Hodgson. The Cottagers had most of the possession and dictated the flow of play. Pajtim Kasami thought he scored the opener but was signaled offside, Ben Foster giving up a huge rebound on the initial shot by Clint Dempsey but was bailed out by the linesman's flag.
Hodgson's decision to play Shane Long alone up front proved to be a mistake. The striker never received the service needed to make any type of impact offensively. The manager decided to change his tactics and moved Peter Odemwingie up front for support. The Nigerian had the best chance of the match, sent clear through on goal by a nice pass by Youssouf Mulumbu, but Mark Schwarzer was able to cut the angle perfectly and make the important save.
Foster then made up for his previous error, making a good low save on a free kick by John Arne Riise and then quickly getting up to deny Bryan Ruiz with a spectacular save from in close. In injury time West Brom almost stole all three points but Chris Brunt was unlucky to hit the post and the game ended scoreless.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson decided to rest Wayne Rooney for the difficult away trip versus Stoke City. News of a potential hamstring injury was circulating prior to kick-off and turned out to be accurate, with Rooney expected to miss a few weeks. Tony Pulis has made the Britannia Stadium a fortress, and needed his side to bounce back quickly after a minor slip up last week on the road.
United had to deal with another injury in the opening stages after Javier Hernandez picked up an early knock and forced to leave the game. Jonathan Woodgate appeared to shove Hernandez from behind as Asmir Begovic came sliding out to prevent the scoring chance. Ferguson was livid that a penalty or a foul was not given on the play. On the half-hour mark Nani made one of his signature runs and found the space to shoot and beat Begovic, giving United the lead.
David De Gea has improved since his horrendous start to the Premiership, although he still seems to have difficulties in the air with his timing on clearances. The Potters provided the biggest test to the Spaniards obvious weakness. Immediately following the goal, Stoke went the other way and Andy Wilkinson blasted a shot that was tipped off the crossbar by De Gea. Jonathan Walters was next to test the young keeper, taking a quick shot that went through the defenders legs but tipped around the post by De Gea. Two first class saves to bail out his team-mates and preserve the lead.
Stoke looked the better side going into the second half and continued to pressure United's resolve. Within ten minutes from the re-start the Potters leveled off a corner kick. Peter Crouch out-jumped his marker and headed in the equalizer with De Gea frozen on his line. Crouch then had the perfect opportunity to give Stoke the lead but could not keep his shot down from close range. The home side has proven extremely difficult to break down, comfortable in surrendering much of the possession but always capable of create chances on the counter attack.
Ryan Giggs was introduced with twenty minutes left on the clock, and came close to netting the winner at the death. The Welshman made a nice run down the left and was wide open to convert Nani's pin point cross, but he failed to hit the target from a tight angle. Stoke became the first team to earn a point against United this season.
Loftus Road was the venue for the lone Sunday fixture. The new and improved Queens Park Rangers hosted Aston Villa in what proved to be an entertaining contest. The Villains have drawn four out of five matches this season and been less than impressive despite boasting an undefeated record.
The Hoops had majority of the ball possession, and Adel Taarabt coming close to scoring with a jaw dropping right curl that smashed off the apex of the post and cross bar. Seeing the replay, it is amazing to watch the bend Taarabt produced on the shot. Had it gone in, it would have been a strong candidate for goal of the season. Right before the break Paddy Kenny produced a tremendous one handed save to deny Barry Bannan from twenty yards out, the teams went into the break on level terms.
Aston Villa came out stronger in the second half, pressuring down the wing but failing to produce a direct shot on goal. Neil Warnock was furious on the hour mark when the referee pointed to the spot after Gabriel Agbonlahor was judged to be pulled down by Armand Traore in the box. Bannan converted the spot kick and the visitors took the lead. Shocked at being behind, QPR pushed forward looking for the equalizer and protested in vain to the referee for a penalty on two occasions. Alan Hutton was at the centre of controversy for each, handling the ball twice but getting away with it.
With time winding down Armand Traore was sent off for his second book-able offence. After being responsible for the penalty that lead to the goal and now for his team being down a man, Warnock was seen chewing him out on the sidelines before being sent down the tunnel. To the surprise of the home crowd QPR managed to score with two minutes remaining in injury time. Heidar Helguson sent in a cross from the left flank that was cleared by Stephen Warnock, unfortunately the ball ricocheted off Richard Dunne and went into the net for the own goal. The draw was deserved although it was a tough share of the points for Aston Villa.
Game of the Week: Manchester City vs. Everton
Goal of the Week: Luis Suarez vs. Wolverhampton
Goalkeeper of the Week: Wayne Hennessey vs. Liverpool
Lowlight of the Week: Fernando Torres red card vs. Swansea City
Please share your thoughts and opinions on the best of the week.
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